Image above: The Silent Artist 2004 – 2021, #17 – 2022

LS diaries

In 2003, Lique Schoot began to photograph herself every day. Finding a different aspect from which to capture herself, always hand-held and within arms-length, the photos are taken with a compact, analogue camera, such as the Leica Mini II. Each month, she has the film roll developed and digitized. Titled with the date they are made (year, month and day), these files are edited on the computer into various series, such as ‘LS diaries Fragments’ and ‘The Silent Artist‘. She thus creates a continuous and open-ended record of her existence.

The LS diaries contain more than seven thousand Self-portraits. The visual diary varies in mood – some tearful, some calm, some confident, some imperious – yet the photographs are unsparingly honest. The invitingly quiet and mysterious photographs capture in a real way the vulnerability of the artist.
She explores the dual nature of identity as simultaneously the perpetual reinvention of the self and an equally willful projection of the other. Common emotions and great themes emerge from the quiet simplicity and persistence of her imagery.

Installations

In her installations, such as ‘The Silent Artist’, Lique shows human life in a poetic and cinematic way. She both directs and plays the lead, each day a frame in a conceptual movie. The photos are an intuitive montage of film stills based on true life. They are a pure registration of felt experience. Understood as a film, her installations remains as close as possible to life itself. By giving the installations a poetic structure, the elusive and sublimated hidden phenomena of life are connected in a way that gives insight into the human condition. Our understanding of the meaning of the work flows naturally from our individual experience up to and including the work. This fragmentary poetic stream is an emotional appeal to the viewer to freely interpret a narrative and thereby participate in a deeper investigation of their own life.

LS diaries Fragments

Every detail is important in ‘LS diaries Fragments.’ The main focus is no longer the self, but rather the mosaic of impressions, such as a reflection of light or some flowers. Daily life is divided in a world of fragments.

Here She Is, There She Goes

In the polyptych, ‘Here She Is, There She Goes’, Lique questions the actual issue of identity by showing human life as a photo grid of same-scale squares, a format based on social media sites like Facebook and Instagram. All of the squares are sections from the daily photos from the LS diaries archives, not only showing the portrait, but also digital details in the form of colors, structures, and the inside and outside environments, reconstructing identity on a broad scale.

The first construction is the creation of the images as photographs, so the arrangement of the daily fragments into the grid constitutes a process of reconstruction. The present of each day becomes re-presented. The process of reconstructing these fragmentary moments into a chronological (and physical) grid structure is apparently dispassionate. Personal narrative is discarded in favour of the inscrutable aesthetic of the algorithm, a fundamentally ‘de-expressive’ process. Presented in a social media-like grid which atomizes identity, the essential self is exposed as a narrative imposed by the viewer from outside. At the same time, the viewer becomes aware of their own efforts towards attempting to manufacture an identity where none is proffered.

The Corona Diaries : March 2020 – present

‘The Corona Diaries’ are recent installations of the ‘LS diaries’ photographs. They show daily life in times of Corona. The cinematic fragments take place between dream and reality, showing the inner life of the artist.

Within the ‘LS diaries Project’, which started in 2003, ‘The Corona Diaries’ play an important role because the philosophical questions ‘Who Am I ? – Who Are We ?’ are more relevant than ever during the pandemic crisis.

Cameras

A film roll has 36 images, and Lique uses these film rolls as a kind of diary. Thus, every month she submits between 28 (February) and 31 images to the photolab where these are developed. The prints are stored on a CD. In this manner she compiles a kind of retrospective diary or calendar of images.

Lique Schoot has used / uses the following compact cameras for the LS diaries project.

Samsung Vega 140s,  Varioplan 38 – 140mm Auto
Macro Schneider – Kreuznach Lens
9534604

October 10, 2003  –  November 1, 2006

Olympus mju:III 120, Multi AF Zoom 38 – 120mm
Olympus ED Lens
4804109

November 2, 2006  –  March 31, 2011

Leica II Mini
Leica Elmar 1:3 5/35
1917831

April 1, 2011  –  present

  • Selected Exhibitions:
  • Arti et Amicitiae, Amsterdam, NL
  • Gorcums Museum, NL
  • Koehnline Museum of Art, Des Plaines IL, USA
  • Museum Kurhaus Kleve, DE
  • Museum of Somerset, UK
  • Museum van Bommel van Dam, Venlo, NL
  • Phoenix Art Museum, USA
  • Rencontres d’Arles 2017, FR
  • This Art Fair, Amsterdam, NL
  • WM Gallery, Chicago, USA
  • Selected Libraries:
  • Foam, Amsterdam, NL
  • FotoMuseum Antwerpen, BE
  • Hellenic Center for Photography, Athens, GR
  • Huis Marseille, Museum for Photography, Amsterdam, NL
  • Koehnline Museum of Art, Des Plaines, IL, USA
  • Municipal Museum / Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, NL
  • Museum Hilversum, NL
  • Museum Kurhaus Kleve, DE
  • Netherlands Institute for Art History / Modern Art, The Hague, NL
  • Rencontres d’Arles Library, FR
  • The Valkhof Museum, Nijmegen, NL
  • Zines of the Zone, FR